Allen’s Mom
Forward contributing editor E.J. Kessler couldn’t get any response from Senator George Allen’s office when we were working on a story about his mother’s Jewish roots. But Allen’s campaign spokesperson, Dick Wadhams, recently told the Washington Jewish Week that mother, Etty Allen, was “raised in a Christian home” — but didn’t know which denomination.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO